Not the better I want to be
by drizzleweather
Summary: After fleeing New York with the turtles to her summer home in the country, April finds herself surrounded with old friends - and enemies. Everyone is curious to uncover what April O' Neil has been hiding, and why she refuses to tell about her past. April soon finds herself on the fine line between hero and villain. (Note, Characters are slightly older. Ex: April is 18. )


Faster!

Harder!

You are weak!

Hit it! Hit it!

Left! Under! Now to the right!

You'll never survive with your strength!

Destroy it!

A punching bag's seams were suddenly torn apart from April's brute-like punch.

She stopped, taking a minute to catch her breath.

Coming to the gym had become a late night habit. Lately the redhead had just felt so much anger, so much frustration.

Her father had just recently been rescued and turned from bat to human, and been over protective ever since. The turtles, as well, seemed to treat her as a fragile girl. Even Splinter had been going easy on her.

Maybe they all believed that the stress was too much to handle. Maybe they just didn't believe in her anymore. April didn't know for sure, but she had to keep training, and let the frustration out. Thus, this habit.

She'd managed to find her old boxing gloves from a couple of summers ago, which had brought a ray of hope into her emotions. Then April found this gym, open 24 hours and normally empty.

It was only then that she saw just how damaged the bag was, and only then that April noticed the mad yelling coming from the gym's manager.

Her eyes popped in surprise, and without even thinking, April grabbed her gym back and hoodie, and rushed out the door, fleeing the tall man.

She didn't stop running till she got to her apartment building.

Even after sneaking past her sleeping father, April still felt on edge.

Falling onto her bed, the teen put her hands up to her face, rubbing it tiredly.

"Great." She stated out loud.

Now where would she go to train?

Splinter would definitely disapprove of her rage. Same goes with her friends, even Casey would.

"Guess I'll have to find an alternative.." April muttered, curling up and closing her eyes.

A goods night sleep would help. But April hadn't had one of those in a couple of weeks. Hopefully tonight wouldn't be too bad.

"Don't you get it?! These guys will kill you! You are not special!"

"Come on! Show me what you've got!"

"You are a disappointment."

April let out a frightened shout, sitting up hurriedly, only to bang into what felt like a brick wall.

"Ow," She stated, rubbing her sore head.

April could hear pained groans from the other end as well.

"Dude, that totally hurt! Aprils head is crazy hard!"

Ah, Mikey.

April opened her tired eyes to see the younger turtle sitting on her floor rubbing her forehead, a bucket of water in hand.

"Please tell me you weren't going to wake me up with that." She stated dully, giving Mikey a face.

The turtle got a nervous smile, as he awkwardly hid the bucket behind a nearby dying plant.

"A-ah, no?"

Laughing slightly, April crawled out of bed, wincing at her still own street clothes, which were ripped jeans and a grey hoodie.

Throwing her messy hair into a low pony tail, April asked,

"How come your in here so early?"

Mikey shot her a concerned look.

"Dude, it's like 3 o'clock. In the afternoon. Me and the bro's all came over to check on you and stuff. We haven't seen you around as much. You okay?"

April hesitated slightly, slouching her shoulders. Taking a deep breath, she turned to face Mikey with a smile.

"Duh. I've just been a bit busy. School just got out and I've been regaining my energy from that place, ahah."

At this point, April honestly believed she could make a living in Hollywood.

"Where's the others?" She asked, holding the door open for the turtle.

"In the living room being awkward with your dad." He answered, snickering.

April joined in as they began to walk towards the small, apartment sized living room.

"April!" Donnie shouted, standing up. His eyes, along with the rest of his brother's, all seemed to be begging her to get them out of this situation.

Her father was staring them down, harshly tapping the sofas arm.

"Uh, why don't we go down to your place and talk?" April suggested. The boys jumped at her words and rushed out of the nearby window.

Aprils father let out a sigh, before mumbling: "be home soon."

Said girl nodded, before following the turtles out of the window.

"So.." Raphael attempted what seemed like the 10th conversation.

"Where you been, April?"

The team were currently sitting in front of their TV, with Mikey watching one of his many shows.

"Oh you know, around." She let out a nervous giggle.

Leo sent her a frown.

"You aren't acting normal. Is everything okay?" He asked, a concerned look on his green face.

Glancing at the faces around her, April let herself smile. For real.

"Yeah, I think I'm doing just fine."

2 months later.

Bright blue eyes glanced up from the book they had been reading.

"I'll get it!" Casey yelled, rushing through the farmhouse as the turtles, who had been sitting on the living room, slunk out of sight from whoever was in the doorway.

The invasion of New York had been rough. Especially with Leo being hurt, and April's father being turned once again. Not to mention Splinter's disappearance.

So they had come to April's childhood, and summer home. The red head had seemed uneasy about it, but didn't voice her concerns.

Everyone already felt stressed, and Leo had woken up just two weeks ago.

April carefully walked over to the door, which Casey was opening.

Splash!

A bucket of water was thrown into April.

Loud, girlish giggling could be heard.

Casey let out a small shriek, jumping back.

April just stood there, taking the water without her face betraying her emotions.

"Hiya Red!" A cheerful voice shouted. Her head poked out. It became evident she was on the roof, looking at April upside down.

Her eyes widening, April quickly shoved Casey into the house, and slammed the door shut.

The new girl swung down from the roof, landing gracefully. She was wearing ripped black tights under jean shorts, with a deep purple tank and a black bear. Her blonde hair was pulled into messy pigtails, the ends stained black and red from various activities.

"We saw that your back in town! Wowie! You sure look different,Red!" The girl spoke fast, holding a box of assorted items.

April cautiously took the box from her, checking the bottom for anymore little pranks.

"Gee, thanks Ivory.." April used a nearby hoodie in the box to covered the top, making sure it was secure.

Ivory frowned at her lack of enthusiasm, but kept talking nevertheless.

"So, who was that cutie who answered the door?" She asked.

April was thankful the girl didn't ask normal questions.

"Just a guy from the city." She answered dully.

"Ah man Red, you've really changed." Ivory crossed her arms. Her dark brown eyes scanned April, grimacing at the differences.

"Anywho, call me! We gotta hang out and catch up!"

Ivory suddenly shouted, latching onto April in a bone-crushing hug, before jumping off of the patio.

April then noticed a beat down car in her drive way, with a silver haired boy sitting in the drivers seat.

He sent April a salute, grinning and pushing up his sunglasses.

Ivory, with a burst of energy, spirited to the car, and hopped in, literally.

The two then sped off, leaving only dust in their absence.

Her grip on the box tightened as April's frown depended.

Putting on a large smile, April kicked the front door open, slammed the box down onto a nearby table, ignored the turtles and Casey's questions,, walked back outside, and slammed the door shut.

Once outside, April put her hands on her head, and let out a scream.

It was loud and high, but April just didn't care. It was a pent up voice inside her, that needed to be free.

Once she was finally done, April casually went back inside, sat down on the couch, and returned to reading her book.

Well, she did, till she noticed Mickey poking around in the box.

"Hey! Check out this bat! It so cool!"

In his hands, lay a old wooden baseball bat, covered in nails, all rusted over.

April immediately turned white.

Racing over, she skillfully grabbed the bat, and pushed it into the box.

"Mikey! You can't go through people's things like that!" She shouted, hugging the box close to her.

"April, why do you have a bat?" Leo asked, raising himself slightly off the seat.

Raphael nodded, scooting closer towards April.

"I'm sure there's a simple normal answer guys!" Donnie shouted, trying to defend April.

"Donnie, it's a bat with nails in it." Leo said calmly. "It's a weapon."

"Will everyone just be quiet!" April suddenly yelled, causing everyone to stop and stare.

"The bat is not a weapon. It's an inside joke. Please leave it alone." Her face was expressionless.

Grabbing the box, April began to walk upstairs. She walked into her room, let out one last final glare, and locked the door, leaving her friends stunned and surprised.

Ring! Ring!

Casey's face snapped to Mikey. That definitely wasn't his t-phone.

"Dude?" He asked.

Mikey let out a nervous laugh. He presented a simple flip phone.

"I didn't get a chance to explain-ow!" He tried to say, but was interrupted with a hit on the head from Raphael.

"What does the messages say?" Leo asked, using his crutches to slowly walk over.

Donnie began peering at the phone.

"Isn't this an invasion of privacy?" He asked.

Casey shot him a look.

"Do you want to look at it or not?"

The purple clad turtle sheepishly nodded.

Several new messages appeared.

Mickey pressed the 'open message' button.

Leo snickered at the usernames.

Crazy lady:

Hiya Red! 33333333 Guess what we did today ;)))) guess!

Techno babe ;):

Hello April. I wouldn't mind catching up with you soon. Respond when able.

Jacky boy:

So I owe u like 20 bucks because Ivory and Gunner totally hook up and are together or something

Captain:

April-

Be ready for tonight. I can't wait to see you.

"Tonight? What's tonight?" Donnie questioned out loud to his brothers.

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about it." Leo answered, looking up the stairs at April's room.


End file.
